Queens of Britain Series: Mary I

Welcome to the Queens of Britain series. In 2024, the blog will spotlight the reigning queens from the island of Great Britain. Check back each month to learn about the women who led their nations.

By Master John via Wikimedia Commons

In their seventh year of her marriage to King Henry VIII, Catherine of Aragon gave birth to healthy baby girl whom they named Mary in 1516. Five years earlier, their only other child to survive pregnancy and birth died in infancy. A happy, bonnie baby, Mary delighted both of her parents. Precocious like both of them with reddish gold hair, Mary shared her parents love of learning and music. Before she was five, she was entertaining diplomats with musical performances. By nine, she knew French, Latin, Greek, and her mother's native Spanish. Still young and handsome, King Henry doted on her and often bragged of her accomplishments.  

In her early years, Henry negotiated royal marriages for her with France and then the Holy Roman Empire and then France again. As a princess, a diplomatic marriage would have been her expected path. But, as the years passed and it became clear that Queen Catherine, who was six years older than Henry, would have no other children, Mary's destiny changed. 

Mary became the first female heir to be treated as Princess of Wales, although she was never officially granted the title. In clear preparation for eventual succession to the throne, the nine-year-old princess was sent to Welsh Marches with her own household to rule over the principality as had happened with many male heirs before her. Although a female heir was very rare in English history, with only the disputed Empress Matilda as a predecessor, women were not uncommon in her mother's homeland. A daughter of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile, Queen Catherine would not have questioned the fitness of a woman for the crown. Petronilla had been the first female monarch in Aragon four centuries earlier and Urraca had been the first queen in Castile and Leon a few decades before that.

All seemed set for Mary to eventually succeed King Henry VIII. She would marry and have children and the Tudor Dynasty would have a bright and glorious future.

History went in a different direction.

While Mary was far away in the Welsh borderlands, her father began to question everything. Why had he had no sons? Had he actually sinned by marrying Catherine, who was his older brother Arthur's widow? Was the lack of sons God's punishment for lying with his "sister"? As Catherine lost her youthful bloom and became even more religiously devout, Henry met a flirtatious and lively young woman who reminded him of his youth. Anne Boleyn.

Soon, Henry became convinced that his soul and his kingdom were in danger because of his "incestuous" marriage to Catherine. Surely Catherine would agree as well? She did not. Didn't Henry remember that she had sworn that she and the 15-year-old Arthur had never lain together as husband and wife? Didn't Henry recall that he had received a dispensation from the Pope to marry Catherine, you know, just in case Arthur really had consummated the marriage? Wasn't that enough to assuage such guilt and cleanse such sin?

It wasn't.

When Catherine refused to grant Henry an annulment, he spent years exploring every path he and his councilors could devise to try to force it. When at long last, they settled upon the idea that the King of England should not be subject to the Pope in Rome, Henry thought he had found his solution. He, who had earned the title "Defender of the Faith" because of his defense of the papacy against the Lutheran reformers, declared himself Head of the Church of England. He divorced Catherine and married Anne. 

The impact on Mary was devastating. Because her father believed he had never actually married her mother, he declared Mary a bastard and removed her from the line of succession. His bright, beautiful young daughter whom he had raised to rule was cast aside. Now called The Lady Mary, her household was dismissed and, by the end of the year, the 17-year-old Mary was sent to live in the household of her new baby half-sister Elizabeth, Henry's daughter by Anne Boleyn. Convinced of her true place in the world, Mary refused to acknowledge Anne and Elizabeth. As punishment, Henry stopped speaking to her and refused to allow her to visit her ailing mother. The strain took a terrible toll on Mary's own health. She was not even able to attend Catherine's funeral when she died in early 1536.

By then, Anne Boleyn has suffered a couple miscarriages and another young woman had caught Henry's eye. Within a year, Henry had beheaded Anne on trumped-up adultery charges, declared their marriage void, added Elizabeth to his list of bastards, and married Jane Seymour. The speed of these changes must have been dizzying to Mary. However, Jane sought to reconcile the young woman with her father. Initially, Mary still refused to acknowledge her illegitimacy and her parents' invalid marriage, but she was eventually bullied into it.

With her acquiescence, The Lady Mary was welcomed back to Henry's good graces. When her half-brother Edward was born in 1537, Mary was named godmother. Then, when Queen Jane died from childbed fever, Mary acted as chief mourner. She was still illegitimate and still barred from the succession, but she was again "loved" by her increasingly mercurial father. She was once again granted her own household and budget. Marriages were even discussed with foreign princes, but nothing came of them. 

Over the next few years, Mary's life was relatively calm--although her former governess was executed on charges of treason due to the actions of her son. Henry's fourth marriage ended in a peaceful annulment and the fifth with another beheading for adultery (this time at least the charges were more accurate). With his sixth marriage to Catherine Parr, Mary's status improved even more. Catherine was able to convince the king to reinstate both his daughters to the line of succession immediately after their young half-brother Edward. 

With Henry's death in 1547, the Catholic Mary inherited many estates. Now in her 30s, she retreated to these as a Protestant Regency Council took control for the nine-year-old King Edward VI. She stubbornly refused to stop practicing her Catholic religion despite laws against it and the young king's insistence. Therefore, she was rarely at court. As Edward's health began to fail, he and his advisors feared what would happen if Mary were to succeed him. Shortly before his death, he, like his father before him, struck Mary and the Protestant Elizabeth from the line of succession in favor of their Protestant cousin Lady Jane Grey. (See my post Queens of Britain Series: Lady Jane Grey)

Mary was at her home at Hunsdon when Edward died and the Privy Council declared Jane queen. Both Elizabeth and Mary were warned to stay away from court, but Mary had no intention of surrendering her rights. She had been the heir to the throne as a child, she had been neglected and restored and rejected. In the end, the 37-year-old exhibited the tenacity of her mother and the self-assurance of her father. She sent orders asserting her claim to the Privy Council and rode for London. An army of supporters formed around her. Nine days later, the Privy Council had deposed Queen Jane and proclaimed Mary the rightful heir. She had not had to fight at all.

In early August, with her sister Elizabeth at her side, Mary arrived in London to public acclaim. Besides restoring Catholicism, one of her first priorities was to find a husband and start a family. She was quickly engaged to her cousin's son, Philip, heir to the Spanish throne. A thwarted uprising by Jane's followers led Philip to insist upon the death of the teenaged claimant. Mary ordered it so. (See my post Killing Queens: A Deadly Tudor Heritage) 

Wedding portrait of Philip and Mary
Woburn Abbey Collection

Mary's proposed foreign marriage caused further unrest as some sought to replace her with Elizabeth. Under the laws of the day, a woman's property belonged to her husband. Many did not want Philip's father, the Holy Roman Emperor, to add England to the expansive territories of his Empire. Mary was able to withstand the challenges, ordered more executions, placed Elizabeth under house arrest, and married Philip. She even had him styled King of England and ensured that all documents would bear both their names. However, the terms of the marriage would only be in place during her lifetime. He would not continue to rule England after her death. Perhaps as importantly, England could not be drawn into the Empire's wars. 

Philip arrived in England two days before their wedding in July 1554. They had never met before. She was 38. He was 27. His nine-year-old son Carlos by his first wife did not accompany him. Philip's first wife (and double first cousin) Maria Manuela of Portugal had died giving birth to Carlos. 

Within weeks, Mary reported feeling nauseated. She was bloated and her period ceased. Everyone rejoiced in her pregnancy. Philip was declared Regent for the child if Mary should die in childbirth. In the spring of 1555, Elizabeth was released from her arrest to attend the imminent birth. But, the child never came. Summer came and Mary's belly went away. The false pregnancy was a terrible blow to the queen, to her marriage, and to the realm. Philip returned to continent to lead his armies while the heartbroken Mary, much like her father, decided her childlessness was God's punishment. Only she was being punished for tolerating heretics in her kingdom. 

At the beginning of her reign, Mary had proclaimed tolerance for Protestants. By the end of 1555, she had officially changed her mind. Executions started early in 1556, even burning some, including Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury, who repudiated Protestantism. Nearly 300 were executed and Mary earned the moniker "Bloody Mary" by which she is known to history. Such persecutions continued throughout her reign.

In 1556, Philip became King of Spain upon his father's abdication. He did not pay a second visit to England until March 1557. He only came to try to persuade Mary to send troops for his continental wars. Mary immediately wished to support him, but it took four months to convince her councilors. Initially, the English forces were successful but by early 1558 they had lost Calais, England's last stronghold on the Continent. 

Mary's reign was fraught with other problems, too, including especially poor weather that ruined the crops and led to famine. The nation's trade also faltered. Despite Spain's growing riches from its territorial subjugation of the old empires of the New World, England did not share in the wealth. 

Philip's brief visit in 1557 once again led Mary to believe she was pregnant. Now in her 40s and distraught, she finally recognized Elizabeth as her heir in 1558. She died that May, perhaps from ovarian cancer or uterine cysts, the symptoms of which might have fueled her second false pregnancy. 

Mary's reign is largely remembered for her zealous religious persecutions, but they were not really very different from the persecutions taking place on both sides of the Reformation across Europe. Her greatest legacy is that she was the first undisputed woman to sit upon the English throne. She acceded without violence and she was succeeded peacefully by England's second undisputed Queen, who would lead the nation over half a century of unprecedented glory. 

QUEENS OF BRITAIN SERIES

Boudica, Queen of the Iceni 
Empress Matilda 
Margaret Maid of Norway 
Lady Jane Grey
Queen Mary I
Queen Elizabeth I - coming in July 2024
Mary Queen of Scots - coming in August 2024
Queen Mary II - coming in September 2024
Queen Anne - coming in October 2024
Queen Victoria - coming in November 2024
Queen Elizabeth II - coming in December 2024

BLOGS ABOUT MARY
Mary Tudor: Renaissance Queen

MORE ABOUT MARY
Did Queen Mary I Simply Need More Time on The Tudor Chest
England's First Official Queen: Mary Tudor on English Heritage
The Marriage of Queen Mary I and Philip II of Spain on The Tudor Enthusiast
Mary had a little lamb on Medieval Manuscripts Blog
Mary I on British Royal Family
Mary I on History
Mary I and Elizabeth on Norwich School Blog
Mary I Queen of England on Tudor History
Queen "Bloody" Mary I Tudor of England on King's College Women's History
Queen Mary I's Accession on Team Queens
Queen Mary I: The Journey to the Throne on Historic UK
Queen Mary I on Screen on The Tudor Chest
Queen Mary I - Reign of Faith and Fire on Old Royal Naval College Greenwich
Role of a Queen - Mary I and Anne on The National Archives
Was Bloody Mary Really so Bloody? on History Is Now
Was the Reign of Queen Mary I of England Really a Failure? on History Is Now
Why Is Mary I Known as 'Bloody Mary'? on Royal Museums Greenwich

Queens of Britain Series: Lady Jane Grey

Welcome to the Queens of Britain series. In 2024, the blog will spotlight the reigning queens from the island of Great Britain. Check back each month to learn about the women who led their nations.

The Execution of Lady Jane Grey

by Paul Delaroche at the National Gallery via Wikimedia Commons

Lady Jane Grey was only 16 years old when the people entrusted to look after her future set her on a path that would lead to her death.

In 1537, Lady Jane was born as the third child of her 20-year-old parents Henry Grey Marquess of Dorset and the former Frances Brandon, who was the oldest child of Princess Mary Tudor. Lady Jane's great-uncle King Henry VIII had resolved all of his problems a few years earlier by divorcing his first wife Catherine of Aragon, who had given him only a daughter, and then beheaded his second wife Anne Boleyn on trumped-up adultery charges. (See my post We Three Queens.)She also had given him only a daughter. In the year of Jane's birth, however, Henry was happily married to the docile Jane Seymour, for whom his new grandniece was named, and his new Queen would deliver him his longed-for son by end of the year. Then, she would promptly die from childbed fever setting a desperate Henry back out in the marriage market where he would eventually add three more wives to his famous collection.

Despite Henry VIII's feverish desire for a male heir, the Tudor Dynasty was replete with females. In addition to Henry's two daughters by Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, respectively, his sisters produced three daughters and only one surviving son. Jane's mother produced two more daughters after her and no surviving sons. The women of the family were educated as well as the men. Jane learned seven languages, including Hebrew, Greek, and Latin so she could read ancient texts in their original languages. She was taught theology, philosophy, rhetoric, logic, and history. Having been born after Great Uncle Henry broke with the Roman Church, she was raised as a Protestant and was personally devout. 

After Henry's death, his nine-year-old son succeeded as King Edward VI. Soon after, nine-year-old Jane was sent to live with King Henry's widow, Queen Catherine Parr and her new husband Thomas Seymour, who was a maternal uncle to the new king. The 12-year-old Princess Elizabeth also joined the Seymour household. Under the guidance of the devoutly Protestant Catherine, Elizabeth's and Jane's humanist and religious education was continued with even fervor. Within a couple of years, Catherine tragically died after childbirth and Thomas was soon executed for treason when he tried to oust his own brother from his role as Protector to their nephew the King. Jane returned to the guardianship of her father, who was created Duke of Suffolk at around the same time. Jane found herself more frequently at court, where it was hoped she would find a noble husband.

Meanwhile, the young King Edward had never had very robust health. His reign would last only six years. The Protestant lords who surrounded the young king became concerned about what would happen if he died. All of the descendants of the Tudors were female and/or Scottish. Worse, the most senior, Edward's half-sister Mary was a devout Catholic who would certainly return the nation to Rome. His other half-sister Elizabeth was an unknown quantity as she had kept her personal religious convictions as quiet as possible. Besides, both Mary and Elizabeth has been declared illegitimate by their father, despite being added back into the line of succession before Henry died. 

During young Edward's last spring, his chief minister the Duke of Northumberland hatched a plan to maintain his own authority into the next reign. The plan included two parts: convince the Protestant Edward to set aside his sisters as potential heirs and declare his cousin Jane and her male heirs as the future monarchs. Then, Northumberland and Henry Grey set about getting Lady Jane some male heirs by marrying the 16-year-old to his 18-year-old son Guilford Dudley. 

Jane and Guilford were married in May 1553 in a joint ceremony that also included the marriages of her sister Katherine to the future Earl of Pembroke and Guilford's sister Katherine to the future Earl of Huntingdon. 

On July 6, 1553, the newly wedded teenager was proclaimed Queen when Edward died from tuberculosis. Despite the machinations of her father and father-in-law who had assumed she would be easy to control, Jane immediately showed her mettle by refusing to have her husband proclaimed King next to her. 

News necessarily traveled more slowly in those days, but it was not long before Mary Tudor learned of her brother's death and of her cousin's perfidy. As she made her way to London to assert her claim, the people rose with her. For all that had happened across her life to marginalize her and despite any fears of what a truly Catholic monarch could mean, Mary was still the daughter of old King Henry and a true princess in their eyes. 

In London, the same Privy Council that had proclaimed Jane Queen just nine days earlier, withered in the face of Mary's advance on London. Jane was deposed. She was arrested along with her husband, her father, and her father-in-law. All were convicted of treason and Northumberland was quickly executed. The newly proclaimed Queen Mary, however, spared the others. Mary had grown up with and remained lifelong friends with Frances Brandon Grey, Jane's mother. Jane's own sweet letter of apology also helped cement Mary's feeling that Jane had been a pawn in the hands of the conniving Northumberland. Sentiment perhaps kept young Jane alive although the three remained separately imprisoned at the Tower of London. 

As the long unmarried Mary rushed to find a Catholic royal husband, however, the tide would change quickly. Once she had settled upon her cousin King Philip II of Spain two things began to work against Jane. First, Philip did not relish the idea of a claimant to the throne being kept alive as a potential rallying point for uprisings. Second, there was an uprising. A man named Thomas Wyatt launched (or helped to launch) a rebellion against Mary's proposed marriage to a foreign king. With Jane's father as one of the conspirator's Mary could hardly oppose Philip's assertions that her throne and her own life would always be at risk as long as Jane lived. And, so it was, just six months after she had been proclaimed Queen of England and then deposed, Jane Grey was beheaded at the Tower of London not long after her husband had met the same fate. Their brief, ill-fated marriage found them buried together forever at the Chapel of Peter ad Vincula nine months after the wedding. Her father met the headsman 11 days later, while her mother Frances remained at Queen Mary's side. (For more about the Queens killed by the Tudor monarchs, see my post, Killing Queens: A Bloody Tudor Heritage.) 

Over the centuries, Jane's life has been greatly romanticized as the tragic heroine who was thrust into a role she did not choose but for which she paid the ultimate price. Given that she is also remembered for keen intelligence and her pious devotion to Protestantism, Lady Jane probably does not get enough credit for the path she ultimately followed. She would have been as keenly ready for the role as the two female cousins who followed her. The religious and political turmoil of the next decade might have been different, but still turbulent. The only likely conclusion we can draw is that, as a young married woman, she probably would have generated heirs which neither of her successors did. The Stewarts would have stayed in Scotland and union of the English and Scottish thrones would have been delayed or perhaps would never have happened at all. Jane's brief reign is one of the interesting "what if" questions in history.

To this day, her reign remains the shortest in English history.

QUEENS OF BRITAIN SERIES
Boudica, Queen of the Iceni 
Empress Matilda 
Margaret Maid of Norway 
Lady Jane Grey
Queen Mary I - coming in June 2024
Queen Elizabeth I - coming in July 2024
Mary Queen of Scots - coming in August 2024
Queen Mary II - coming in September 2024
Queen Anne - coming in October 2024
Queen Victoria - coming in November 2024
Queen Elizabeth II - coming in December 2024

BLOGS ABOUT JANE
Lady Jane Reference Guide
Lady Jane Grey Revisited

MORE ABOUT JANE
Archive for Lady Jane Grey on Venetian Red
A Genius on the Throne: Lady Jane Grey Remembered on The Gale Review
Jane Grey: The Doomed Queen on Travel Through Time
Lady Jane: Famous Trials at Guildhall on Guildhall Library Blog
Lady Jane Grey on Historic UK
Lady Jane Grey on the Official British Monarchy site
Lady Jane Grey on Royalty Now
Lady Jane Grey, England's Forgotten Queen on Medieval Manuscripts blog
Lady Jane Grey and a Letter to Shock Victorians on a Place for Truth
Lady Jane Grey: The Nine Day Queen on Historic Royal Palaces
Lady Jane Grey: Nine Days Queen on On the Tudor Trail
Lady Jane Grey--Nine Facts about the Nine Day Queen on Odyssey Opera
Lady Jane Grey: Queen of England for Nine Days on Womenary
Lady Jane Grey's Correspondence on The National Archives
Lady Jane Grey's Letters from the Tower on Medieval Manuscripts blog
A Lesson from the Life of Lady Jane Grey on Learning Ladyhood
Meet...Lady Jane Grey on The Box Museum Gallery Archive
Nine Days a Queen and the "Execution of Lady Jane Grey" on Voegelin View
A Tudor Tragedy: The Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey on The Tudor Chest
Twelve Tips for Writing About Lady Jane Grey on Sharon Kay Penman

Queens of Britain Series: Margaret Maid of Norway

Welcome to the Queens of Britain series. In 2024, the blog will spotlight the reigning queens from the island of Great Britain. Check back each month to learn about the women who led their nations.

Margaret Maid of Norway
image of stained glass window on Orkney
by Colin Smith via Wikimedia Commons

After years of negotiation, seven-year-old Queen Margaret finally boarded the ship that would carry her to her kingdom, inherited from her maternal grandfather King Alexander III of Scotland. Young Margaret, better known as the Maid of Norway, had never known her mother or her mother's family. Her mother, Margaret of Scotland, had died shortly after her birth leaving the infant in the care of her father, King Eric II Magnusson of Norway, who found himself a widower and single father at the age of 15.

Although the marriage treaty between Eric and Margaret of Scotland left the bride and her children in the line of succession to the Scottish throne, the baby's royal future was still just a remote chance. King Alexander's teenage son Prince Alexander and his bride were expected to carry on the dynasty. But, when baby Margaret was just seven months old, her uncle Alexander died. The hope that his wife might be pregnant with an heir was soon dashed. At that moment Margaret became the only heir to Scotland. Alexander moved quickly to have his nobles swear allegiance to baby Margaret as his heir.

However, Alexander also tried to stabilize the succession by marrying again. Now in his forties, he had waited a decade after the death of of his first wife, Margaret's grandmother,  Margaret of England, sister of King Edward I of England, a decade earlier, he at last remarried. Just six months later, he rode out in a storm to see his young wife. The next morning, he was found along the road, his neck broken in a fall from his horse. The usual wait to see if his new wife would produce a posthumous heir took place, but eventually it was clear that the Maid of Norway was the last survivor of the Scottish House of Dunkeld.

Not quite three years old, Margaret had become the first Queen of Scots, nearly three centuries before the much better-remembered Mary Queen of Scots.

A toddler and a female as monarch was not ideal in the 13th Century. The rivalry between other claimants Robert the Bruce and John Balliol threatened not just the peace of the kingdom but the little queen herself.

Fearful for her safety, Eric kept his daughter in Norway while negotiating a marriage that would not only ensure her well-being but also the well-being of her kingdom and would eventually unite Scotland and England under one ruler. Eric accepted the marriage offer from his late wife's uncle, King Edward I of England, to unite his son Edward of Caenarfon (later King Edward II) to Eric's daughter Margaret. The intended groom was a year younger than his toddler fiancee. Nevertheless, a political match of this magnitude would at last bring some peace to Scotland, which had been battling England for centuries, and eventually, the couple's child would sit on both thrones. The idea had initially been floated by King Alexander before his death, when Margaret's succession was not yet certain.

Once the Scots had been reassured that Scotland would remain independent from England, they ratified the marriage treaty. Once Margaret reached her kingdom, her marriage would be official even though both partners were not yet old enough. Margaret said farewell to her father and set sail for Scotland. The stormy North Sea drove the party far to the north to the island of Orkney, which was still Norwegin territory at the time. When she came to shore, the seven-year-old Queen Margaret was very ill, possibly from severe seasickness. Weak and depleted, she died in the arms of the Bishop who had been sent to look after her. Today, a stained glass window in the Lerwick Town Hall on Orkney remembers her brief and tragic visit.

By the time the Scottish lords who had been gathering in Perth for her coronation, learned of her death, the little body was already on its way back to Norway. Her heartbroken father confirmed her identity before she was buried with her mother. Despite this, a decade later, a "False Margaret" emerged to claim the Scottish throne--she was burned at the stake for her efforts. 

In Scotland, Margaret's death set a match that would burn for decades as 13 claimants, including John Balliol and Robert the Bruce, battled for control of the Kingdom, with King Edward I heavily interfering and seeking to assert his authority there.

Many scholars today tend to count Margaret at Scotland's first reigning queen. However, that assertion is disputed because she never actually arrived in Scotland, and more importantly, she was never crowned. As for this blogger, I prefer to give the little Maid of Scotland her due as a Queen. 

QUEENS OF BRITAIN SERIES
Boudica, Queen of the Iceni 
Empress Matilda 
Margaret Maid of Norway
Lady Jane Grey
Queen Mary I - coming in June 2024
Queen Elizabeth I - coming in July 2024
Mary Queen of Scots - coming in August 2024
Queen Mary II - coming in September 2024
Queen Anne - coming in October 2024
Queen Victoria - coming in November 2024
Queen Elizabeth II - coming in December 2024

MORE ABOUT MARGARET
Death of Margaret, Maid of Norway, Queen of Scotland on European Royal History
The Death of Margaret, Maid of Norway on BBC Bitesize
The Maid of Norway, The Child Queen of Scots on Fourteenth Century Fiend
The Maid of Norway--The Tragic Story of Scotland's First Queen Regnant on History...The Interesting Bits
Margaret Maid of Norway on BBC Bitesize
Margaret Maid of Norway on Britroyals
Margaret Maid of Norway on Royal.UK
Margaret (Maid of Norway) on ScotClans
Margaret (Maid of Norway) on Time Ref
Margaret Maid of Norway on Timewise Traveller
Margaret 'the Maid of Norway' on English Monarchs
Margaret the Maid of Norway on Rex Factor
Margaret the Maid of Norway on Visit Heritage
Margaret Maid of Norway and Queen of Scotland on Medievalists
Margaret Maid of Norway, Queen of Scots on Kyra Cornelius Kramer
Margaret, Maid of Norway: How Scotland's Fate Took a Tumble from a Horse and Fell into the Delicate Hands of a Child on The Scotsman
Margaret, Tragic Queen of Scotland, Maid of Norway on Owlcation
Queen Margaret, Maid of Norway on Undiscovered Scotland
Queens Regnant: Margaret, Maid of Norway on History of Royal Women
Unlucky Princesses: Margaret, Maid of Norway on The Creative Historian